Advent Readings: Day 22

For this Advent season we offer you a Bible reading for each day which points to the first coming of the Lord Jesus at Christmas and his return in glory!

Philippians 2:5 - 11

5In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

A few comments

Felix Baumgartner, the Red Bull sponsored extreme-sportsman/nutter (take your pick!) made history earlier this year when he jumped out of balloon in the upper atmosphere and plummeted 39 km back to earth, breaking the speed of sound as he went. That is nothing compared with the descent undertaken by God the Son on the first Christmas night…

God the Son is not some second class deity. He is fully God, perfectly equal with the Father and Spirit. And yet he ‘humbled himself.’ Down he went to earth – the creator walking on the dust of his own creation. But he didn’t come down a blazing being like the one John sees in Revelation 1. He humbled himself to become a human being. Not just any human being. He did not become a mighty king, but a servant. But he plummeted down further still. He humbled himself to die for sinners like us. Surely that in itself is a step too far for God? But no, he went further down, and humbled himself beyond anything imaginable by dying the most gruesome, painful, humiliating death ever invented – death on a cross.

Point for Prayer

Praise God for his humility and love that reaches down so far to save undeserving sinners like us. Pray that, as Paul urges, ‘our attitude would the same as that of Christ Jesus.’ In all the challenges and stresses of family relationships over Christmas, let’s pray we would serve and love and put others first, just as our God has done for us.